Enter a Decision on a Proposal

If you have a decision-making role in an approval process, you will need to login to Curriculog to provide your decision on proposals when it is your turn.

How Will I Know When a Decision Is Needed?

  1. Email: Curriculog will send you an e-mail when a proposal has reached the stage when your decision is needed. Please be sure to keep any eye out for emails from Curriculog and to respond quickly when a proposal comes to you. This is the equivalent of receiving a PDF form for your signature.
    • See our help guide on “Setting Your Email Notification Preferences.” Be sure that if you select digest format, you are receiving notifications often enough that you are not missing reminders and holding up a proposal.
  2. The "My Tasks" tab in Curriculog: Your “My Tasks” list will highlight proposals needing your attention with an orange bar on the left-hand side.

Additionally, a reminder will appear under “My Recent Notifications."

How Do I Enter My Decision?

Click on the title of the proposal in your “My Tasks” list to open it and the “User Tracking” window as well as the Proposal Toolbar. See our help guide on “Tracking Submissions in Process” for additional details on navigating this view and using the proposal tools.

On the left hand side, you will find the contents of the proposal form.

The proposal tools in the icon bar on the right-hand side will allow you to:

  • Review Discussion, including edits and comments to date from any user
  • View the details of the Workflow Status to date, including all prior decisions by other users
  • View Attachments that have been appended to the proposal (Syllabi and more)
  • Render your Decision on the proposal

Use the "X" above the icon bar to hide the right side of the screen and enlarge the proposal.

Once you have read the proposal and discussion, use the "Decisions" tool

Within the decision window, you can choose what you would like to do with this proposal. Most users will only either Approve or Reject. (Not all users will have the same options.) Click the radio button next to your choice. A comment may be helpful on an approval, but if you reject a proposal, Curriculog will require an explanatory comment. When you are done, click the “Make My Decision” button.

You will get a pop-up confirmation that your decision has been registered, and that the proposal has taken the appropriate next step in the workflow. Curriculog will update the current status of the proposal in all locations.

If you have already reviewed a proposal in your “My Tasks” list and know you wish to approve it, click on the box at the left of the title to select it, and then click “Approve Selected.” This will bring you to a confirmation screen to finalize your decision. Please do not use this method if you have not reviewed the most recent version of the proposal and any comments.

Decisions Explained by Role

As a proposal progresses through the approval process workflow, decisions will have varying meaning depending upon the "role" a reviewer holds. A list of the roles that can be found in the workflow and the meaning of decisions for each role can be found below.

  • Originator: After launching the proposal the Originator must enter "approve" to move the proposal forward in the workflow.
  • Registrar Review: When a member of the Registrar team "approves" the proposal, it is an acknowledgement that if the department, college, and Faculty Senate approve, then the request should be able to be implemented as written. If there is an issue that could potentially impede implementation of the request, a decision to "reject" at this step will simply alert the Originator of the issue so that it can be resolved prior to the department, college, and Faculty Senate review, ensuring the most efficient path toward implementation.
  • Department Chair or Program Coordinator: A decision to "approve" by the Department Chair or Program Coordinator implies that department curriculum committee has reviewed and supports the request. A decision to "reject" at this step will send the proposal back to the Originator to either make edits or suspend the request. A proposal can only be edited by the person(s) on the current "working" step in the workflow.
  • College Curriculum Committee Chair: A decision to "approve" by the College Curriculum Committee Chair indicates that the committee has reviewed the proposal and supports the request. A decision to "reject" at this step will send the proposal back to the Originator to either make edits or suspend the request.
  • College Dean: A decision to "approve" by the dean or designee indicates that the dean or designee has reviewed the proposal and supports the request. A decision to "reject" the proposal at this step will send it back to the Originator to either make edits or suspend the request.
  • Faculty Senate Committee Chair: A decision is entered by the chair of the relevant Faculty Senate Committee after the committee has reviewed, discussed, and voted in-person on the proposal. A decision to "approve" indicates that the committee voted to approve the proposal during the in-person meeting. A decision to "reject" indicates that the committee did not approve the proposal as written, and sends the proposal back to the Originator to either make edits or suspend the request.
  • Faculty Senate Executive Committee: The Executive Committee does not vote on the proposals. A decision to "approve" indicates that the proposal is ready to be added to the Faculty Senate agenda.
  • Faculty Senate President: A decision is entered by the Faculty Senate President after the full senate has reviewed, discussed, and voted in-person on the proposal. A decision to "approve" indicates that the senate voted to approve the proposal during the in-person meeting. A decision to "reject" indicates that the senate did not approve the proposal as written, and sends the proposal back to the Originator to either make edits or suspend the request.
  • Curriculum Management Review: A decision to "approve" indicates that any final notes that need to be included for the UML System Update steps have been added and the proposal is ready for implementation.
  • UMass Lowell (UML) System Updates: A decision to "approve" indicates that the action step required to implement the proposal has been completed. It is very rare that a proposal would need to be "rejected" back to the Originator at this point.
    • Submit forms to Provost and UMass President's Office (UMPO) > Department of Higher Education (DHE): A decision to "approve" indicates that the DHE Letter of Approval / Acknowledgement has been received and uploaded, unless noted otherwise.
    • Update Course in Catalog: A decision to "approve" indicates that the course has been updated in the catalog, based on senate committee approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update Academic Structure in SIS: A decision to "approve" indicates that applicable changes have been updated in SIS, based on senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update Degree Pathway in a Catalog Cohort Year: A decision to "approve" indicates the Registrar's Office has updated the Degree Pathway based on Senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update the Program, Department, and College Landing Pages on the Academic Catalog website: A decision to "approve" indicates that the program, department, and college landing pages in the catalog have been updated based on Senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update Advisement Report in SIS: A decision to "approve" indicates that the advisement report (AR) has been updated based on Senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update Admissions Application: A decision to "approve" indicates that the Admissions Office has updated the Admissions application(s) based on Senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update Program Participation Agreement (PPA): A decision to "approve" confirms that the Program Participation Agreement has been addressed.
    • Update Higher Education Information Resource System (HEIRS) Database: A decision to "approve" indicates that the HEIRS database has been updated based on Senate approval and the information provided in the DHE Letter of Approval, or as otherwise required for state and federal reporting.
    • Update Marketing Department / Program Web Pages located on the main UMass Lowell website: A decision to "approve" indicates that the marketing web pages for the department and/or the program have been updated based on the Senate approval and the information provided directly in the proposal.
    • Update the Web Pages on the Graduate, Online and Professional Studies (GPS) website: A decision to "approve" indicates that the GPS web pages have been updated with the changes as approved by Senate.
    • Final Curriculum Management Review: A decision to "approve" indicates that the proposal has been reviewed from the original request to the final implementation to ensure alignment and to identify any patterns that could be used to inform ongoing updates and improvements during summer maintenance of Curriculog.

Additional Curriculog Tutorials are located on the Curriculog Help webpage.

For assistance, email: curriculog@uml.edu.